Jesus enjoined them, “Watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod” (Mk 8:15). Jesus taught the disciples to be aware of the leaven of the Pharisees, their blindness, deafness, and hardness of heart blocked them from embracing the presence of the Son of God in their midst, as well as the leaven of Herod, who too was blinded by his own hunger for power, pride, pleasure, and self aggrandizement.
Unfortunately, the disciples missed the point of Jesus’ guidance. They quickly slipped into self recrimination and blame. Comments such as, “Who forgot to bring more bread?”, “I thought you brought the basket?”, “Nathaniel left the bread by the fig tree again!”, all echoed over the sea of Galilee. The disciples crouched into their defensive postures, exposed their spiritual immaturity, their focus on self. Their eyes and ears, were just as closed as were some of the Pharisees and Herod. The disciples still did not recognize who Jesus was. They who had witnessed Jesus multiply the loaves, not just for the 5,000 in Jewish territory, but most recently the 4,000 in Gentile territory, could not see that Jesus was not talking about the one loaf of bread, for he could have again easily provided for the handful of them on the boat.
Jesus pointed out to the disciples, as he does for us today, the danger of the making of ourselves into our own master and not God. When we focus on our self we are closed off, we are closed within, and are separated from that which is truly going on around us, even that which is right in front of our nose. Jesus seeks to lead us out of our defensive crouches, to soften our hearts of stone so that they can become hearts of flesh, to help us to experience deep breaths, not those breaths constricted by stress and anxiety. Jesus attempts to heal the scales of our eyes that are allured by apparent goods, and open our ears so we can resist half truths and false promises, such that we can see, hear, and experience the true, the good, and the beautiful.
We do this best when we resist the leaven of self centeredness, power, pride, prestige, pleasure, and wealth, and instead align ourselves in a posture of openness to receive the infinite love of the Holy Spirit that will fill our heart to overflowing. We are to embrace our Father as our master, to embrace Jesus as our Lord, and to seek opportunities each day to risk stepping out of our comfort zones, beyond the grasp of our fears and anxieties, so to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as our self (cf. Mk 13:29-31).
Photo: Quiet, peaceful sunset, Monday, February 11, 2018
Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, February 12, 2018:
Spiritual Stepping Stones